Inoculating Composted Pine Bark with beneficial organisms to make a disease suppressive compost for container production in Mexican forest nurseries

Abstract

At a Mexican nursery, we compost pine bark, inoculate it with beneficial microorganisms, and use it to grow conifer seedlings in containers for reforestation. In this article, I describe how we make composted pine bark (CPB), a technically and economically viable alternative to expensive, imported growth substrates. CPB is easy to produce and can be made on a small scale, generating permanent nursery and reforestation jobs and promoting the stability of Mexican forest plantation companies. We have found that using CPB minimizes use of fungicides in the nursery. I discuss how to inoculate composted bark with bacteria (Bacillus spp.) and fungi (Trichoderma spp.) to enhance suppression of root disease organisms.